A Place for Us is an original Lent course based on the recent film production of West Side Story directed by Steven Spielberg and featuring the songs of Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein. Through study and discussion of key scenes from the movie, related to Lent passages from scripture, Lavinia Byrne and Jane McBride help us to reflect on fear, love, betrayal, death, and reconciliation. The course is based on five weekly sessions exploring the following themes: Belonging Otherness and Difference The Gift of Love The Promise of a Place for Us The Tragedy of Betrayal For each session, preparatory material including a Gospel reading is provided for the reader to reflect on the themes before meeting with a study group. Resources are then offered for the group, including a suggested film clip, discussion points and questions, exercises, a Psalm, and a poem by Phil Lane.

Lavinia Byrne believes that the Roman Catholic Church's teaching and pastoral practice is producing vocations to priesthood among women. This book looks forward to the day when Catholic women will be ordained, and addresses questions such as: when and how this might take place; who women are for and against; how women are organized; what the present-day Church thinking is on the subject; whether nuns are uncovering a call to ordination; and whether the ordination of women is a source of division or a source of healing.